Lübeck martyrs

The Lübeck Martyrs were three Roman Catholic priests – Johannes Prassek, Eduard Müller and Hermann Lange – and the Evangelical-Lutheran pastor Karl Friedrich Stellbrink.

The Catholic priests worked at the Sacred Heart Church in the centre of Lübeck, Prassek as a chaplain, Müller as assistant minister and Lange as vicar.

The four had been close friends since 1941, exchanging information and ideas, and sharing sermons, including those of Clemens August Graf von Galen, Catholic bishop of Münster.

In addition to the clerics, a further 18 Catholic lay people were arrested, including Stephan Pfürtner, who later became a moral theologian.

A year later, between 22 and 23 June 1943, the trial of the four men took place before the second chamber of the People's Court, with Wilhelm Crohne presiding.

Following Joseph Goebbel's directive that the People's Court's judges "must base their decisions less on law and more on the basic idea that the law-breakers be removed from the national community",[3] the clerics were sentenced to death for 'broadcasting crime [specifically, listening to enemy broadcasts],[4] treasonable support for the enemy and demoralisation of the Armed Forces'.

Pastor Stellbrink received no support from his Province's church authorities, and prior to his execution was ejected from Holy Orders because of his conviction.

Son of a customs official, Karl Friedrich Stellbrink[6] served in the First World War until he was medically discharged in 1917 with a crippling wound to his hand.

"[10] On the 60th anniversary of the executions, the Catholic archbishop of Hamburg Werner Thissen announced the start of the beatification process for the Lübeck Martyrs.

In Democratic history: annals of the workers' movement and democracy in Schleswig-Holstein 8 (1993), pp 205 – 280 English meaning: Priests on the scaffold: a Lübeck trial from 50 years ago.

Edited manuscript of radio broadcast as part of the series Religion and society, 6 August 1993, NDR 3rd programme English meaning: Witnesses for Christ: a list of 20th century German martyrs.